Development Do's & Dont's
The AGDzine presents adventure game development do's and dont's!
Do!
Give your team members roles
Everyone loves it when they're assigned a title and having a title is in effect just like being paid. If someone can be a "lead" (i.e. lead background artist) they'll feel much more essential to the project than just being an "artist".
Include contact information
There's nothing more annoying than a company or game website with no contact information. Make sure you include a page where people can email you, as lots of people will want to get in contact and have a chat about your project. You'll never get tired of all the feedback, comments and questions you'll be asked. Don't use an "email form", actually specify an address to where emails can be sent.
Keep a notebook on you
Everyday you will think up new ideas for your game, new puzzles, characters, animations etc. Always make sure you've got something to jot your ideas down on so you don't forget them.
Keep your team informed
Setting up a forum or other means of team members to get in touch with each other regularly and easily is exceedingly useful. You'll NEED to discuss things and corresponding simply by email can sometimes get confusing, especially if you're corresponding with multiple team members at the same time. Never keep anyone on the team out of the loop. If some important news or developments occur, let everyone on the team know.
Tempt your audience
Do not set up a website or even mention your game to someone unless you have something to show. Even if this is just the synopsis and perhaps a couple of screenshots - something is better than nothing. Empty websites and sites with "content coming soon" are better left offline. Fans, your audience, love being teased. Release a screenshot every so often, get a rolling and/or playable demo available and offer them extras and bonuses like music samples, voice samples, concept art etc. People love nothing more than having bits and bobs from your project that they will be able to look back on in the future. More multimedia on your website will also attract media attention, as it means they have something to write about and show.
Keep back-ups
You will end up with hundreds of different files - backgrounds, music files, spirtes, frames of animation, documents, emails etc etc - keep EVERYTHING backed up! The best solution is to use either a re-writeable CD or even better, a ZIP drive or USB stick. If you lose anything at any point, you'll always have a back-up.
Keep deadlines
Although for many developing point and click adventures is a hobby and takes place after work hours, you really should keep some form of deadlines, even if they're small like, "tonight I'll finish drawing the main character sprite". You get more done, and you'll feel better with yourself. Set deadlines for your team members too - but don't go over the top. If no-ones getting paid then you must be wary that they're likely to not be kept, but having a target date is still better than none.
Keep up to date with what others are doing
It's best to be in the know with what other developers are up too, for several reasons. You can collaborate with them, offer them support and even learn from them. If they're doing something similar then you will be able to work around it and make your project different to theirs and perhaps even more innovative. Show interest in other peoples games and they'll show interest in yours.
Share and share alike
Share with other developers things you learn, information you gather and knowledge you learn. On most accounts there is no competition, and sharing techniques is one of the kindest things you as a developer can do.
Take your time
Never rush! Don't rush yourself and don't rush your team - make sure things are done properly and accuratley rather than quickly.
Play more games
Keep your games collection full! If you don't have a certain game, buy it. The more adventure games you've got, the more resources you have to build on when developing your own adventure.
Make your download clear
If you're game is available for download or can be bought from a website, make sure your website has a link to the download or ordering page on the front page (or as near to the front page as possible). Make the link noticeable. The harder the download is to find, the less people will play it. It's your game, let people know about it!
Keep track of your aims
Some developers set aims or goals for their projects, like making sure the game is enjoyable, inventing original puzzles, rewarding the player in different ways, keeping a fluent style etc and you should always keep working towards them.
Research
If your game needs research to be done, then do it. Like films, people will still spot the mistakes in your games. Make sure everything that needs to be is properly researched - even if this means going to the local library to check up on things.
Research your audience
In the same way, try and understand what your audience what. Listen to your players needs. How old will your audience be? How much experience of adventure games do they have?
Beta-test your game
It's always best to get some independant opinions on your game. You should never be the only beta-tester. Get at least someone else to try it - afterall they have a different computer, different thoughts and abilities to you. Its best if they're someone who won't know the puzzles too. Often, more than one beta-tester can be very useful for the same reasons. You will get more opinions, and 4 people will probably spot more bugs than just one person. With team projects, make sure everyone on the team gets to beta test, and not just once the game is finished. Let them play the game through its development.
Have fun!
The whole point you're developing an adventure game is because you love doing it. Never forget that. It will be tiring, hard-work and sometimes stressfull, but at the end of the day your efforts will show. It's all experience and could always lead somewhere bigger and better in the future if thats what you want it too. If not, at least you will have satisfied your own personal need! Good luck!
Don't!
Create a Monkey Island fan-game
Several reasons why you shouldn't do this, the biggest key factor is that there is a high chance of being shut-down by LucasArts, it's happened to plenty of MI fan projects in the past. Plus, there are already four MI games out there at the moment. People will get bored of playing them. Also, you're not Ron Gilbert.
Create a pirate game
The pirate genre has been done! There are hundreds of pirate adventure games, and throwing even more into the mix just means less originality.
Use a big team
It's a well known fact that most teams are formed over the internet and that most correspondance is held over the internet. Large teams can become a pain to work with and you can lose track as a project leader of who is up to what. Larger teams make people feel more obsolete and they'll leave the project. If your project needs a large team, perhaps your project is a little too large.
Have more than one project leader
A project with more than one leader will run slowly and ineffciently. You only need one person to make the final descisions, not two. Two project leaders can sometimes show instability. Having an "assistant project leader" is advisable rather than having two project leaders, that way - two people can be in charge but only one gets the final say, which is all that is needed. Conflicting views can hold the project back and will get the rest of the team frustrated.
Idle
If the project hasn't been touched for a month or so, do something about it. Email everyone on your team, (or if you're doing it alone - get your ass in gear!). A little amount of progress is still progress. If someone has "dissapeared" or is not establishing contact, find someone to replace them or stand in for them. ALWAYS make sure you know where your team members are and what they're up too. Get them to let you know if they're going on holiday or will be absent for any period of time that may delay the project's development.
Be too ambitious
It's fine to be ambitious, but be realistically ambitious. If you want to make a commercial adventure game but have never designed or developed one before, its best to start out small. In short, don't run before you've learnt how to walk.
Design weird puzzles
Creating a game that will only appeal to you is no good if you want others to play it. Think and design your puzzles logically. "Open door with fish" just isn't logical. For a good basis to puzzle logic, see what puzzles arise in your day to day life, and how they're solved.
Reveal unnessecary facts
If you're trying to be somewhat professional, you might consider keeping a "development diary". However, don't fill your diary up with entries like "Today I did nothing" or, "Today I created some music, bye." Be concise, give detail, or if there's no detail to give - leave it out all together.
Boast
Telling other developers how your game will be ten times better than theres is a big no-no. You can garuantee that someone else will be creating an adventure game that IS better than yours. Encourage others, congratulate them and enthuse them. Berating them or offending them is not the spirit of the community at all.
Worry
If you think your game is lacking in its looks, playability, design, structure etc - don't worry about it. This is one of the biggest concerns as "worrying" usually leads to the developer to not enjoy working on the project, which leads to it being abandonned. If, you're creating the game by yourself - weigh up the consequences. Are people awaiting the game? Is there a way to shorten it so it can be finished sooner? Is it possible to revamp? If you're working as a team, also consider; Will giving up let the team down? Could someone else take the project over? Can I get more input from other team members?
If you do decide to stop your game, abandon in or post-pone it, could you not pass it onto someone else to develop? Give the resources from the game (backgrounds, music etc) out to people to use?
Give up!
There isn't a single developer on Earth that hasn't left a project un-finished. That's fine. It will take a while until you find a project you like, and when you do, you will enjoy working on it. No matter how many projects you leave un-finished or abandon, don't give up making adventure games.
|
|
